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Queen Elizabeth Announces Prince Harry and Meghan Markle No Longer Working Members of British Royal Family; Key Impeachment Filings from U.S. House, President; Iran Will Send Downed Plane's Black Boxes to Ukraine; Virginia Declares State of Emergency ahead of Gun Rights Rally at State Capital; Australia Fires; Anti-Government Protests In Beirut; Libya Summit to Call for Sanctions If Ceasefire Violated; Demonstrators Gather in Washington, D.C., for Fourth Annual Women's March. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired January 19, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Moving on: Harry and Meghan reach an agreement with the queen over their change in royal status.
U.S. president Donald Trump's lawyers officially respond to the impeachment charges against him.
Also this hour --
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ALLEN (voice-over): Making noise: women against Donald Trump take to the streets in several American cities. Hear what they had to say.
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ALLEN (voice-over): These stories all ahead this hour. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We're coming to you live from Atlanta. It's 5:00 am here. I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: Thanks again for joining us.
Our top story: major changes are coming to the House of Windsor. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are no longer working members of the royal family. Buckingham Palace made the announcement Saturday, saying the couple will no longer represent the queen, use the title His or Her Royal Highness or receive funds for royal duties.
In a statement, the queen wished them well, saying, "Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of the family."
But many questions remain surrounding what is next for the couple. For more we're joined by our royal correspondent Max Foster, outside Buckingham Palace.
What is next there and what is the feeling about these changes, Max?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: I think there is a lot of relief probably on the Sussexes side, although Harry did not get all that he wanted. He wanted to retain some current roles that wasn't something the queen felt she could agree to clearly. You're either in or you're out.
They've chosen to go out so it's a big moment for the monarchy. They lose two very high-profile, very charismatic, very useful senior royals from their fold and other members of the family would like to pick up that slack.
The Sussexes now looking ahead to their future. They've been extracted from the system or they will be in the spring, when all of this starts taking effect. One question still outstanding, what happens to their brand, Sussex Royal.
They clearly had some discussions about to what extent they are allowed to use the royal brand and cash in on it. I think they are still working through that. That could change.
But that is really the next phase of this, a reshaping the future Sussexes and their public work but in a private capacity.
ALLEN: Right. And, Max, I want to ask you, though, how much will we still see them taking part with the royal family?
Will they be on the balcony for certain events?
FOSTER: I think they will be. They will certainly be invited to family events. You'll see often, you know, Prince Andrew's children are often there for the big family events, weddings and things like that.
What they won't be doing is representing the queen at events. She has stepped back a bit and she doesn't do as much. So senior members of the family will represent her. The duke and duchess will no longer be doing that sort of thing and they'll also be in North America, Canada, probably the United States, as well.
But I think we'll see them, you know, they'll often look like they're in traditional royal situations, going to engagements around female empowerment and military veterans, for example. So we'll see them in those environments but a lot less formal. We won't see them in the very formal roles when they're stepping up to represent the head of state.
ALLEN: And what about the relationship between William and Harry?
We have all seen them grow up together and go through the pain of losing their mother together.
Is there a chasm there? FOSTER: There is a chasm but I think this is now the opportunity now for them to heal. Obviously, not just family members but they also work for the same firm. That where the tensions have largely come from. The Sussexes unhappy with their positions and the others perhaps not adjusting to them as quickly as they had wanted.
So now that the relationships are much clearer now, they're simply family members and not working royals together sharing the burden. So this is a point where they can start rebuilding those relationships again. It will take time because it's been pretty clear the way this has blown out, outside public, outside private walls into the public.
It's a pretty bad situation between several members of the family. But there's also a real sense that they want to improve things and build from here and draw a line under this.
ALLEN: A major change to be sure. CNN's royal correspondent, Max Foster.
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ALLEN: Thank you, Max.
The couple has said they wanted to live part-time in North America and they have mentioned they have a strong connection to Canada. CNN's Paula Newton takes a look at how Canadians there are reacting.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Canadians are really taking this news in their stride. They believe, look, if Harry and Meghan want to live in Canada, so be it.
That changes dramatically if they try to access public funds for anything like security. The issue is many Canadians sympathize with this couple in terms of the kind of scrutiny they are under and understand why they want to get here.
And they're proud to provide some kind of privacy for them. They had an incident on the West Coast when they were in British Columbia over Christmas. They met a couple on a B.C. trail. Meghan took a picture of them. The couple did not take a picture of Meghan and Harry, they did not intrude on their hike.
And it is that kind of life which Meghan has already had in Toronto, that they want to try to get to. But the issue of security is still a sticky one and the palace themselves and the statement said that well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly funded security is what is in place.
The prime minister's office here officially has no comment. They say these things remain under discussion. That's from the prime minister himself. What's interesting is, in stepping back from their roles as royals, Canada's obligation is not the same to them as if they were working royals. But it means that perhaps they won't be spending as much time in
Canada, that they might actually be freer now to move, as well, to the United States -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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ALLEN: A royal watcher in London will join us in about 25 minutes from now with more on this change and Prince Harry and Meghan's future.
We turn now to the impeachment of U.S. President Trump. Both congressional Democrats and the White House have filed their respective legal arguments ahead of next Tuesday's Senate trial. We have two reports about it. Boris Sanchez is traveling with the president in Florida and we begin our coverage with CNN Joe Johns in the Capitol.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The House managers laying out the history, the chronology, the facts and even trying to give senators a view as to what the framers of the United States Constitution might say about the president, indicating, in their view, the president's conduct is the framers' worst nightmare.
A lot of this is information we have all heard before during the hearings up here in Capitol Hill, leading to the impeachment of the president.
However, there were some references, a few references, to new were information that has come out recently.
Even that report just last week from the Government Accountability Office indicating that the president, in the view of the watchdog organization, in fact, violated the law.
Democrats see the GAO report as an important rebuttal to claims by the president's legal team that no crimes were committed or laws violated -- Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's legal team filing its formal response to a Senate summons on Saturday night. The president's team saying that these articles of impeachment are completely invalid and an attack on Americans. We are learning that they plan to defend the president in three ways.
First, on the substance of the accusations, saying that his call with President Zelensky of Ukraine was perfect, as the president has suggested. There was no quid pro quo between the two leaders.
Secondly, on the actual articles of impeachment themselves, suggesting that what he is accused of is not actually an impeachable act. And thirdly, they are attacking the process the Democrats carried out
in the House of Representatives, arguing that President Trump was not afforded due process.
Look at what the White House writes, quote, "President Trump categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation in both articles of impeachment."
They go on to write about his phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine, that it was quote, "perfectly legal, completely appropriate and taken in furtherance of our national interest."
Sources close to the president spending the weekend with him here at Mar-a-lago tell us that the president appears to be in good spirits, though he is a bit distracted by the ongoing impeachment saga.
He is apparently asking people around him, "Why are they doing this to me?" -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.
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ALLEN: Let's talk about all of this with Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at England's University of Essex and a frequent guest here.
Good morning to you, Natasha.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Good morning. Nice to see you.
ALLEN: Same here.
I want to begin, before we dig in, to what we expect from the Trump side and the Democrats with the comment that we heard that Mr. Trump made at his resort this weekend.
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ALLEN: He said, "Why are they doing this to me?"
Do you think he really doesn't understand why this is happening?
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: I mean, that's a great question. Part of President Trump's presidential persona is to be a perpetual victim. He like to talk about the fact that no president in history has been attacked and criticized as much as he has, that the Mueller investigation was a complete witch hunt, that this impeachment investigation and trial is going to be a hoax, another witch hunt.
So I think he enjoys in some way, relishes in being a victim because this is something he can take on the campaign trail with him. And in front of adoring audiences, he can talk about the fact that he is this victim and I think he hopes that by using this he can rile up the Republican base to turn out to vote in 2020.
To illustrate that the Democrats have become so extreme that they're willing to go to any -- to do anything in order to get rid of him.
ALLEN: We should be hearing from him during the trial. Senators are not allowed to have their phones in there but he will be able to tweet. That is something new certainly in the annals of impeachments in the United States.
Let's look at what his lawyers are saying. They're rejecting the case against him as illegitimate and describe the effort to remove him as dangerous and this is all driven purely by an desire to hurt Mr. Trump in the 2020 election.
Does that argument have merit?
LINDSTAEDT: It's interesting; they didn't dispute the facts and didn't provide a long defense, although I guess they could provide more on Monday.
But what they're trying to say is that Trump didn't actually break any laws. Now on that fact, we have to point to this question about whether or not he violated campaign finance laws in trying to solicit valuable information from a foreign country. And there are legal scholars that think that may have also taken place.
But you also have to remember that the framers of the Constitution didn't say that an impeachable offense had to rise to a crime. It doesn't necessarily have to be an indictable offense that has taken place.
What the framers have in mind was to use impeachment for a remedy for some sort of misconduct or abuse of power. And that's where Trump's legal team seems to be disagreeing with, let's just say, the Democrats in the House, who are trying to try this particular case.
The Trump team is also trying to say that the Democrats are so focused on removing Trump from power and in doing the 2016 election, that that is exactly what is driving this. So we're getting into a battle about what constitutes an impeachable offense.
And we got a little bit of a hint of what the Trump team was going to say earlier, when his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, stated that abuse of power is not an impeachable offense. So we will have a lot of disputes of what that is
As far as I'm concerned if soliciting help from a foreign country on your political opponent is not an impeachable offense, I honestly don't know what is. This is exactly what these new reports of autocracy are doing. They're trying to get dirt on their political opponents to make the playing field unlevel.
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ALLEN: Natasha Lindstaedt speaking with me earlier. Next here, the remains of the 11 Ukrainians killed in the Ukrainian
passenger jet downed by Iran are being repatriated in a solemn ceremony you see here.
Plus the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cutting ties with the royal family. What this means for the couple moving forward. We'll have more about that story.
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ALLEN (voice-over): This is a live look from Kiev, Ukraine, where the remains of 11 Ukrainians are being returned to their home country. They were killed last week when Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet. The bodies were received in a somber ceremony at Kiev International Airport just a short time ago.
All 176 people on board died when it was accidentally shot down by Iran's military shortly after takeoff from Tehran. This comes as the head of Iran's accident investigation board tells Iranian media the black boxes from the downed jet will be sent to authorities in Kiev.
We're tracking developments in Hong Kong, where thousands of protesters are, again, taking to the streets and so are police. In a shot at China's central government, protesters call it a universal siege on Communists. They are demanding democratic reforms and protesting alleged police brutality.
Clashes have broken out with security forces, who fired tear gas to break up the crowds. We'll continue to monitor this developing story.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, has issued a temporary ban on drones ahead of a massive pro-gun rally in the state of Virginia. This comes as the governor declared a state of emergency due to threats surrounding this controversial event. Our Nick Valencia is in Richmond, Virginia.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A source for the Virginia State Police Department tells CNN that over the course of the last 48 hours, there's been an increase in threats towards law enforcement.
That same source says there have been particular threats on the social media pages of the Richmond Police Department, as well as the Virginia State Police. On Saturday morning here, our crew witnessed a step up in security protection and measures around the state grounds.
We saw a woman holding a toddler, who was thoroughly screened, as well as bags that were thoroughly screened, as well. We want to be clear what will happen here on Monday, it happens every year on MLK Day. It's part of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, their lobby day, when they go in and lobby the representatives to be more pro gun rights.
The reason why this year is different is, for the first time in nearly a quarter century, the state legislature is controlled by Democrats.
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VALENCIA: And after coming into office, the Virginia state senate passed three gun control bills, which included background checks for all firearm sales and a limit of one purchase of a firearm for every 30 days as well as allowing localities to band guns in certain areas.
Pro gun rights groups saw this as a threat to law-abiding gun owners.
They said, if it can happen here in Virginia, what does it mean for the rest of the country?
Earlier this week we saw Democratic governor Ralph Northam issue a state of emergency because of what he called credible threats of violence here that were expected to take place on Monday.
Because of that, he announced a temporary weapons ban. Critics of the governor say this is political theater; however, the FBI has expressed a level of concern. And earlier this week, we saw a group of suspected neo-Nazis arrested, some of whom the Feds say were here on their way to the rally.
The biggest fear is that this event on Monday will be a magnet for extremist groups and their main concern is they want to avoid what happened in Charlottesville and they don't want that to happen here -- Nick Valencia, CNN, Richmond, Virginia.
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ALLEN: Well, heavy rains are bringing relief to areas in Australia devastated by bush fires and a much needed break from hot and dry conditions. Firefighters in New South Wales have taken the opportunity to strengthen containment lines now. But the rain is also causing problems such as flash floods and power outages. Lynda Kinkade reports.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The welcome relief of rain. In this part of New South Wales, trees still smolder from the intense blazes that have been burning since September. Where fires once burned, there are now puddles. The downpours have provided a badly needed break from the scorching conditions.
Thirsty animals venture out for a drink. Water which was once so scarce has come down in a deluge, with some new places along the New South Wales-Queensland border getting up to 250 millimeters of rain in a 24-hour period. Residents are thankful for the help from above. [05:25:00]
VIRGINIA CONNOR, RESIDENT: We're thrilled. We're thrilled and so relieved to have some dampness in the air because it makes things safe for a little while. But we need more. We need lots more.
KINKADE (voice-over): But in some areas it could be too much of a good thing. Flash flooding has closed roads, cut power and temporarily closed tourist attractions.
Forecasters say more rain is on the way, which could help to contain and perhaps extinguish some of the fires, with dozens still burning. In the meantime, some people say, despite the severity of the storms, they're enjoying the weather.
MEG FALLON, RESIDENT: It's just beautiful listening to it, though. Listening to it on the roof. It's a long time since we've had it here. So we're enjoying it.
KINKADE (voice-over): Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
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ALLEN: Let the rain fall.
Next here as Harry and Meghan step back from their royal titles, what might it mean for their new lives in North America?
Plus this year's women's marches across the U.S. presented a much sharper focus. It's all about showing power at the polls. That's coming up.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We appreciate you tuning in. I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: So what's next for the couple?
For perspective, historian and royal commentator Kate Williams joins me now from London.
Good morning to you, Kate. Thanks for coming on.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ALLEN: Is this really happening?
I guess it is.
How do you frame this change in the royal family, considering upheavals in the past, and how is it being received?
WILLIAMS: Well, this is huge news. I mean, Harry and Meghan, the decision, the statement they made a couple weeks ago has kept the U.K., it's been huge news here. We hardly noticed anything else. It's been a top news story.
And now we have a decision. Now we have an announcement about what is going to happen. And I have to say, I was expecting something more half in/half out. It's clear Harry and Meghan were also hoping to support the queen.
But this statement that came out really made it very clear. They are out of the royal family as working royals. They will now be free to earn their own income and will no longer using their HRH title and they will repay all the money that has been spent by the queen and by the sovereign, by the taxpayer on their accommodations.
So really, they're not half in/half out. They're not doing some engagements and not others. They are really very much now independent people. And this is a huge story and the beginning, I think, of great change for the royal family.
There's been a lot of talk over the last 10 years or so about a slimmed-down monarchy here, reducing the amount of people in the royal family and this is what it looks like, some people making their own. So Meghan and Harry, we hope they will have a wonderful, peaceful life, life outside of the royal goldfish bowl and be much happier.
But still this is a big shock, a movement toward a completely different way of being royal.
ALLEN: Absolutely. Her wedding was spectacular and then the birth of their baby and now this.
Does it come as a surprise to you that Harry wants this?
WILLIAMS: Well, you're right, Natalie. This was a wonderful wedding and a fantastic moment and I have to say that we really have to think hard in Britain about what has been happening here because, at the wedding, it really finally seemed as if the British royal family, a historically very white establishment, was finally reflecting multicultural Britain.
But less than two years later, this, the first woman of color to marry into the modern royal family, she has been chased out. There has been sexist, racist coverage here. In fact, the most interesting surveys being done. One newspaper looking at all the articles about Meghan said 72 percent were negative.
And really we have to look very hard at ourselves what has happened here. It hasn't been fair. The coverage of Meghan has been unfair so that's a question about multiracial Britain and about society, the royal family.
But also, as you say, I think Harry, you know, he never loved his life in the royal family. He always found it restrictive. He's always been hinting at how difficult he found it. He loved being in the army and then his position was exposed and had to come out and I think he always found it hard and restraining and restrictive.
And now, let's hope that he will have a happier life. And Harry and Meghan have said from the beginning they want to change the world and I think they found the royal family too restrictive a platform to do this in. And hopefully now they can have a foundation like The Obama Foundation and bring change to the world. That's what they want.
ALLEN: Interesting to see how they reestablish their new lives but I have a feeling they will do it because they've been so proactive in the things that they love.
I know that Meghan has been treated unfairly. Everyone agrees with that and the tones of racism are really sickening and really sad. And you talk about that the royal family wanted to streamline a bit more.
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ALLEN: But is there a loss without these two young, attractive royals and what they had to bring to the family, with all their passion and their work that they're stepping away and moving away?
WILLIAMS: This is a great loss. Really, the royal family, they need all the youth and all the glamor they can get. And Meghan and Harry really won over a very young demographic, not just in this country but across the commonwealth and the world.
The commonwealth loved Meghan and Harry and they won over a young, diverse demographic. There was a growth of affection from people of color that people in Britain and the commonwealth have been telling me, they feel it more because Meghan was in the royal family and now that's gone.
I do think people were devoted to them and thrilled by them and inspired by them and they will no longer be here supporting the queen. And I think it's very difficult moving forward.
The queen is very popular. Everyone adores her. You know, they respect her and her long and devoted sacrifice. It's not quite the same for the other members of the royal family. They don't have that star power.
This is the thing: if Harry and Meghan go off and create their own charitable foundation and continue their work with the Invictus Games and women's empowerment, really, I think a lot of the attention will go to them and not to the royal family and their charitable instincts.
So it's a big loss. And I do feel though as a great support for them and the very warm statement from the queen last night, very warm, saying Harry and Meghan will always be members of my family and the queen did talk specifically about the scrutiny they have been under. Royals never do that. But I think perhaps a statement of support for
Harry and Meghan for the awful scrutiny they have been under, the unfair and cruel and prejudiced coverage coming earlier from Buckingham Palace might have helped. It is a bit too late now, I think.
ALLEN: The queen also even went as far to say Meghan has become such a wonderful member of this family and she's loved by the queen. Well, it is a new day and a story that won't go away for some time. We'll be watching to see as this unfolds. We always appreciate your insight. So lovely. Kate Williams, thank you.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
ALLEN: Next here, peace could be possible for two of the major warring factions in Libya. Ahead, a look at the divisions still tearing this country apart.
And what to expect from a major peace conference getting underway right now.
Also, women march across the U.S. again with a clear message for Donald Trump ahead of his re-election bid. More on their mission to make a difference at the polls a bit later.
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ALLEN: Protests are turning violent in Lebanon as demonstrators flood the streets of Beirut. The Lebanese Red Cross says at least 200 people have been injured. The country's president has deployed the military to disperse the crowds and demonstrators are furious over the government's failure to appoint a new cabinet and for the lack of economic stability.
World leaders are meeting in Berlin this weekend. Their aim: an end to the fighting in war-torn Libya. According to a draft communique, attendees will call for sanctions on anyone who violates the cease- fire there.
The U.S. is sending secretary of state Mike Pompeo to the summit. Other countries are sending national leaders. CNN's Becky Anderson has spoken with the U.N. special representative for Libya and asked him about what he understood to be the U.S. position on the country.
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GHASSAN SALAME, U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO LIBYA: The Americans so far have concentrated their action on two areas. One is a direct fight against terrorism -- and they are quite active and even more active of late than they have been in the past -- and ensuring the free flow of oil, of Libyan oil, into the international market. And they immediately mobilize when there is a threat to that.
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ALLEN: She has this closer look now at what is driving the war in Libya.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): It had been hailed a moment of hope: the fall of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. But nearly a decade on, this is what much of Libya looks like today, the strewn wreckage of a country splintered by conflict between two warring sides.
The Government of National Accord or GNA, runs the capital and much of the country's northwest.
In the east, a parallel government controlling nearly two-thirds of the country. It is led by General Khalifa Haftar and his well-armed liberal Libyan National Army or LNA.
Neither side, though, is acting in isolation and battlefield Libya has many hands at work. Haftar is generously backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who view political Islam as a threat and see Haftar as the country's last line of defense.
They are joined by Russia and France, while the GNA sees support from Turkey, Qatar and a handful of E.U. states such as Italy. But importantly, it has the rubber stamp of U.N. legitimacy.
Despite that, it only survives through outside friends of its own and mostly Turkey, who have gotten involved directly. President Erdogan recently receiving authorization from his parliament to deploy troops there.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): If Haftar's attacks against the people and legitimate government of Libya continue, we will never refrain from teaching him the lesson he deserves.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Being there is crucial to President Erdogan's strategic interests beyond the Middle East, burnishing his regional reputation as a power player. Haftar, though, says, is up for the fight.
GEN. KHALIFA HAFTAR, LIBYAN NATIONAL ARMY (through translator): We hereby except the challenge. We are announcing a mass mobilization of our troops. We call for a holy fight.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Meanwhile Russia has been bolstering its presence around the Mediterranean. There has been a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries, supporting Haftar's troops on the ground in Libya.
Moscow claims that they do not represent the Russian state, as they have also claimed in Ukraine. But from Syria to Libya, president Vladimir Putin's expansionist strategy remains clear.
The United States, on the other hand, is being more capricious.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): It launched airstrikes, targeting ISIS and Al Qaeda in 2015 but then pulled its troops amid the surging political violence. Its position now isn't quite clear.
And in the vacuum of war, chaos: hundreds of thousands of migrants using Libya as a dangerous springboard into Europe, the continent, for the most part, calling for a political solution to the bloody conflict -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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ALLEN: A political solution, well, that is the goal of the peace summit that is beginning as we mentioned and CNN's Melissa Bell is covering that angle for us. She's live in Paris.
Good morning to you, Melissa. We just saw, we have two leaders, countries aligning with either.
And where does this summit start to try to sort this out?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, with a great deal of complication, Natalie. Because as that report from Becky Anderson just highlighted, this is not just about a country divided but about world powers that have gotten involved and are also deeply divided on the question of who should be in charge and what political way forward can be found.
Of course, this conference taking place today has been planned for months, five meetings leading up to it to get all the parties involved around the table with many disagreements with who should be around that table and who should not, with some of the regional leaders excluded.
That's upset the head of the U.N.-backed Tripoli based government and doubts about whether he would turn up at all. So it gives you an idea of how complicated this is going to be.
Around that table are going to be, however, Natalie, the five permanent members of Security Council.
Can they finally get some kind of enforcement of that arms embargo that has been in place for so long but flouted so openly for almost as long?
That is one of the big questions. We've seen, as you mentioned a moment ago, that draft communique, suggesting sanctions against some of the global foreign powers that might be flouting that arms embargo by bringing arms to one side or the other.
A recent report by the U.N. suggested that a number of countries involved citing in particular, Jordan, UAE and Turkey. Can those sanctions prevent that kind of intervention?
This is a real test for the U.N., in particular and also a test of all those around the table. In a sense it's that foreign intervention that has given added urgency to this search for peace in the country. But it is also precisely, Natalie, what will make it all the harder to achieve.
ALLEN: Absolutely. When you look at the lineup there of the countries behind these leaders, you don't see active presence of the United States.
We know Mike Pompeo is at the summit.
But why is the United States holding back when it comes to Libya?
What do we know about that?
BELL: Extremely interesting to see what Pompeo's position is on this as Becky was saying in that report. There was a very clear focus on the fight against terror and many concerns at one point when the ISIS, in particular, was beginning to show a presence on the ground.
But much less clarity on the question of the political resolution. The man who heads that U.N. mission in Libya was just saying in that clip you played a moment ago, it is, of course, important to have intervened to help that flow of oil continue to help stop the rise of Islamist extremists in the country.
But it's also going to be crucial for it to decide where it stands on this much more urgent but perhaps much more complicated question of precisely what kind of political solution can be found.
There is also a retreat of Europe on this question, on the question of what should happen in Libya. Europe has been divided and therefore fairly quiet. Hence the increasing presence of Russia and Turkey on the ground and around the table today.
ALLEN: So Europe and United States, we'll see what this summit bears out. Melissa Bell, thanks so much for us, live from Paris.
You saw a bit of Becky Anderson's interview with the U.N.'s special representative for Libya. Hear more of what he has to say coming up on "CONNECT THE WORLD," 3:00 pm In London and 7:00 pm in Abu Dhabi, right here on CNN.
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ALLEN (voice-over): A new sense of urgency dominated this year's women's marches across the United States and they have a message for the White House. We'll give it to you after this.
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ALLEN: Thousands of women and their allies marched in cities across the U.S. for women's rights and equality. The Women's March began in response to U.S. president Donald Trump's election.
But now their rebuke for the president has renewed focus to influence voters at the ballot box in the upcoming presidential election. Kyung Lah has our story.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the first Women's March 2020 aimed at a target date, November.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump has got to go.
LAH (voice-over): From Los Angeles to Denver, thousands packed pavements at more than 250 events, including the nation's capital and New York.
LAH: Some of the people who are marching have been marching for four years in a row. But this year, what's different is it's 2020 and a chance to make a difference in national politics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did the march in Washington, D.C., the day after Trump's inauguration.
LAH (voice-over): Since then Audrey Okonkwo marked each year's march with a family picture in the crowd.
LAH: Are you not tired of doing this every year?
AUDREY OKONKWO, LOS ANGELES PROTESTER: Oh, no, I'm fired up. Let's go, yes. I'm ready to vote him out.
LAH (voice-over): A determination in D.C., where freezing rain failed to stop marchers.
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BRUNA BRYLAWSKI, NORTH CAROLINA PROTESTER: I think the most important thing is to get out the vote and make it very clear that voting is important. And whatever you do, vote. Of course, vote the right way.
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LAH (voice-over): Jumping on that get out the vote call, Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Together we will make Donald Trump, at best, a one-term president.
LAH (voice-over): The women's marches may have started because of President Trump's election but they also highlighted America's pressing issues, like climate change, reproductive rights and immigration.
EVELYN YANG, ANDREW'S WIFE: For our mothers, for our daughters.
LAH (voice-over): 2020 candidate Andrew Yang's wife, Evelyn, spoke in New York about her assault.
YANG: We need to roar against sexual violence and roar against the culture of coverup that so often follows.
LAH (voice-over): And while Lydia Kann feels a difference in the size of this year's Los Angeles crowd compared to 2017...
LYDIA KANN, PROTESTER: I'm guessing that they don't feel mobilized but hopefully they will at least vote. If they can't get on the streets, you know, we all have to vote.
LAH (voice-over): Progress for these women, making this the last year targeting Trump.
JUMEE JONES, LOS ANGELES PROTESTER: Anybody besides Trump, honestly, is a win for the world and for women.
LAH (voice-over): Kyung Lah, Los Angeles.
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ALLEN: Thanks for watching. I'm Natalie Allen. Be sure to follow me on Instagram. "NEW DAY" with Martin Savidge and Christi Paul is next. For everyone else, I'll be back with our top stories.
